“Boy With Spitfire.”

“You can almost hear him crying out, budda-budda-budda as he plays being a Spitfire ace."

This 28mm scale metal commemorative figure of the Battle of Britain was given away as a freebie by the “South London Warlords” at this year’s “Salute”, and was sculpted by Paul Hicks. I’ve seen the miniature beautifully pigmented by the incredibly talented Kevin Dallimore as an actual school boy playing with his toy aeroplane, and whilst I was momentarily tempted to try to replicate such a paint-scheme, I eventually opted for something far more straightforward which would hopefully enable the model to see much more tabletop time as an objective marker.

To begin with though, I felt the ‘statue’ should at least be placed up on a pedestal some kind, and having scoured through my collection of resin pieces, found just such a plinth cast by “Telfer Model Design”. Unfortunately, the block’s top was just too small to ‘house’ the model’s detailed base, so rather than build a wide enough ledge myself I simply resorted to flipping the stand upside down instead and hoping that my subsequent paint-job would fill/cover the quite visible casting bubbles on show.

"Crooked Dice Game Design Studio" WIPs - Three Kobolds primed with "Vallejo" Heavy Red

In addition, I had a slight issue with my “Loctite” super-glue whilst placing the figure on its stand, as my previous brand of cyanoacrylate always allowed me a few moments to slide a miniature into position. This new “precision max” variant provided no such leeway, so just as soon as I touched the model down on its column it became stuck fast, and the only thing my frantic tugging and pulling was ever going to achieve was for the sculpt to snap at the ankles – something I quickly decided I didn’t want to risk. As a result, the ‘statue’ is slightly off-centre on its plinth, albeit I think you’d have to look quite closely to spot the mistake.

Luckily, I had no such issues gluing the resin foundation to one of the thin-lipped 40mm plastic circular bases I use for all of my objective markers these days, and once dry set about priming the ensemble with “Citadel” Abaddon Black. The figure was then layered with “Vallejo” Heavy Sienna, before being given a coat of Brass and a generous drowning of “Citadel” Agrax Earthshade and "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade.

"Crooked Dice Game Design Studio" WIPs - Three Sorcerous Sentinels primed with "Vallejo" German Grey

Due to wanting this statue to look reasonably well-maintained, I decided against adding any patina or weathering to the figure, and simply highlighted it back up with a dry-brush of (more) “Vallejo” Brass. Admittedly, this did make the miniature look a little too shiny for my liking, so I dulled it down a bit more with a second application of “Citadel” Agrax Earthshade. The model’s plinth was pigmented using some “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey, which was later shaded in “Citadel” Nuln Oil (as well as the odd drop of Agrax Earthshade), before being dry-brushed with (more) “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey.

Alongside this objective marker, I have also been steadily prepping and priming a number of miniatures for the upcoming Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. This includes some more of the “Crooked Dice Game Design Studio” Kobolds I purchased at “Warfare” 2021, as well as the three (final) Sorcerous Sentinels I own, which I intend to pigment “Vallejo” White to represent some elite Fortress Guards…

"Salute" Loot 2021

"South London Warlords" WIPs - Paul Hicks' sculpt, the Boy With Spitfire, is slowly being painted

After almost a two-year absence, I was finally able to once again make the pilgrimage to the ExCeL convention centre in Custom House, East London earlier this month, so as to add a few more bags of lead and plastic to my ever-swelling ‘incline of inspiration’. I must confess I didn’t really know what to expect from the much delayed show, especially as a number of companies decided to announce their non-attendance at short notice, such as “Mierce Miniatures” - who appeared to have posted up their no-show decision on social media the evening before it actually started.

Happily however, considering just how many manufacturers ultimately decided not to appear without any warning whatsoever, I wasn’t just travelling up to “the Big Smoke” to purchase goodies, but to also meet up with some of my fellow bloggers like Dave Docherty (“One Man And His Brushes”), Tamsin Piper (“Wargaming Girl”) and Ray Rousell (“Don’t Throw A One”). This impromptu get together late in the morning was easily the highlight of the day, and also allowed me to obtain a little heads up as to what these prodigious painters would be potentially pigmenting for the upcoming Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge (AHPC).

"Reaper Miniatures" WIPs - A Werecrocodile and Werearmadillo

Loot-wise, things were looking rather sparse for a considerably long time, despite it taking me a good hour or so to slowly make my way around all the stalls sat up against the edges of the grand hall. This year’s “lovely little commemorative figure of the Battle Of Britain” immediately caught my eye when I spied it in my goodie bag, and I also managed to pick up a “Reaper Miniatures” Werecrocodile and Werearmadillo from an early seller who seemingly had every Bones figure imaginable for sale. Yet surprisingly, that was it for quite a while as I walked past a disconcertingly high number of empty tables.

Perhaps the show’s biggest deal was from a large stand (whose name escapes me) whose numerous staff were selling both old and new packets of “Flames Of War” models by “Battlefront Miniatures” at half the recommended retail price (RRP). One of my reasons for signing up to the AHPC this year is to ‘push through’ my Late War Germans, so I thought this would be an ideal opportunity to bulk up on some reinforcements. As a result I picked up a 15cm Infantry Gun Platoon, a 7.5cm Infantry Gun Platoon, a Fallschirmjager Rifle Platoon, and a D-Day Mission Token Set. To be honest I could have bought more, but as the sellers kept having to use their phones to web-search the RRP for each blister I selected before giving me a price, my (im)patience dictated that I settled upon just the bare essentials.

"Red Eagle Miniatures" WIPs - These French Line skirmishing figures have been primed

Disappointingly, the centre of the hall was probably where the ‘no-shows’ made their biggest impact as there were some considerable holes in the line-up, and despite looking I never managed to find the likes of “Gripping Beast”, “Hasslefree” or “Troll Trader” – the last of which usually sees me fork out an inordinate amount of dosh on genres/ranges I never ever anticipated buying. To be honest, this soon caused me to return to the edge stalls for a second perusal, and thus caused me to miss Dave Stone’s “Wargames Terrain Workshop” stand completely. Though I did get to spend five minutes chatting to Duncan Rhodes about his new “Two Thin Coats Paints” range.

This subsequent, albeit whirlwind, tour of the outer tables ultimately landed me with my most expensive purchase of the day, as I returned to “Red Eagle Miniatures” and their 10mm range of Franco-Prussian models. This has always been a period which has fascinated me, but I have never properly ventured into it before now. In addition, I tend to predominantly stick with “Pendraken Miniatures” for my 10mm fix, so I actually felt a little guilty buying a range I knew they produced from someone else. However, in the end I decided to pick up a packet each from most of the e-commerce company’s infantry range to trial during the AHPC, along with a couple of cavalry units too…